Desktop, Taskbar and Start menu
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Many of the tips in this feature can be applied with the help of two powerful tweaking tools, so start by downloading both Ultimate Windows Tweaker ( https://bit.ly/uwt-10
– you’ll find links to Windows 7 and 8.1 versions here, too) and Winaero Tweaker
( https://winaero.com/download. php?view.1796). Once downloaded, extract the contents of the ZIP files – Ultimate Windows Tweaker runs as a portable app, and Winaero Tweaker gives you the option of installing it in portable form, too.
QUICKLY ACCESS WINDOWS’ PERSONALISATION SETTINGS
To start customising, right-click the desktop and choose Personalise to jump straight to Settings > Personalisation > Background. From here you can change your background to a picture, a solid colour or a slideshow of photos within a single folder on your PC.
CUSTOMISE YOUR DESKTOP BACKGROUND
If you’re dissatisfied with Windows’ rather meagre desktop background offerings, download and install John’s Background Switcher from
for more choice – after installation you’ll be directed to the Add button where you define sources for your photos. These can include specific folders on your PC as well as various online sources (including Dropbox and OneDrive folders, plus RSS feeds, Instagram, Google and Flickr).
You’ll see several switching options at the bottom of the main window – pay attention to the ‘Picture mode’ drop-down where you can display multiple photos at once in various ways. There’s also a ‘More…’ button for finetuning all aspects of this clever background tool.
OVERRIDE COLOUR SCHEME
Windows automatically changes the colour scheme of desktop items to match the background, but you can also force your own choice of colour via Settings > Personalisation > Colours. You can switch between light and dark modes here, too.
CREATE CUSTOM COLOUR PALETTE
Fed up with having to click ‘Custom colour’ to choose a different one to Windows’ own offerings? Fire up Winaero Tweaker and go to Appearance > Custom Accents, where you can define up to eight custom colours of your own. These appear under ‘Recent colours’ in the Personalisation dialog box for easy access.
PICK A THEME
The quickest way to change your desktop appearance is through the Themes section under Settings > Personalisation. Several are provided, or click ‘Get more themes in Microsoft Store’ to browse hundreds more – click Get followed by Install to add one to your collection. Some themes change the mouse pointer and desktop icons – you can prevent them from doing so in Winaero Tweaker under Appearance > Theme Behavior.
CHANGE YOUR ACCOUNT PICTURE
Open a photo of yourself in an image editor like Paint.NET ( then crop in to a headshot (make the selection tool 1:1 for a perfectly square selection) and save the image. Now navigate to Start > Settings > Accounts and click your current photo under ‘Your info’ to select your new photo. Previous shots are kept, enabling you to switch between them.
SET UP A SCREENSAVER
Energy-saving LCD monitors have largely rendered screensavers redundant, but if you’re still hankering after one, head to Personalisation > ‘Lock screen’, then scroll down and click ‘Screen saver settings’ to set one up. Download more screensavers from
www.screensaversplanet.com (many of which are completely free) – save the EXE file to your computer, then double-click it to add the screensaver to the available list.
Before making major changes to your Start menu, navigate to ‘Desktop and Taskbar’ > Backup/Restore Start Menu Layout in Winaero Tweaker to export the current layout – just in case.
CUSTOMISE THE START MENU
Use the Personalisation > Start section of Settings to configure certain aspects of the Start menu. Tiles can be added by rightclicking items and choosing ‘Pin to Start menu’. You can then click and drag items to rearrange them, or click and drag items on top of each other to group them in a folder.
LOCK THE START MENU
After you’ve set up the tiles to your satisfaction, open Ultimate Windows Tweaker and navigate to Customization > Universal UI and tick ‘Lock Start Tiles…’ to prevent accidentally rearranging them in future.
DITCH THE START MENU
Still hankering after the Windows 7
Start menu? Our old favourite alternative Start menu – Classic Start – has been resurrected
under a new name and updated to work with the latest version of Windows 10. Download and install Open-Shell from https://open
shell.github.io/Open-Shell-Menu/ – during installation, click the Classic Explorer and Classic IE options and choose ‘Entire feature will be unavailable’ to avoid installing them.
CUSTOMISE THE QUICK ACCESS MENU
Press Win-X to access the alternative Start menu. You can choose exactly which options appear on it by downloading and running the portable Win-X Menu Editor app ( https:// winaero.com/download.php?view.21).
RESTORE DESKTOP GADGETS
Missing the old Windows 7 gadgets that provide extra functionality on the desktop? Visit http://
win10widgets.com/ to download Win10 Widgets, a customised version of Rainmeter
(see final page of the feature) with the gadgets pre-installed and running.